“What do you mean?” he asked, his brows knitting together.
She looked around the interior. “This is pretty much a penis extension in vehicular form,” she told him, grinning at his raised eyebrow. “And I have to tell you, you don’t need one.”
He grinned. “This was all they had left in its class. I’ll get something better soon. And for what it’s worth, you used to love my old Camaro.”
“I loved the way it meant I didn’t have to walk to school or the drive-in anymore,” Van told him, remembering the rusty orange sportscar with a smile. “But it stank like ditch water and was so unreliable.”
“I have a lot of good memories from that car.” Tanner pulled out into the main road. “A few of them with you.”
Her face heated up as she remembered prom night. They’d both gone with other people, though the four of them had traveled in the same limo. One paid for by her date, Brad. They hadn’t gone home together, though. After a few drunken fumbles, Brad had finally gotten the message that she wasn’t planning on giving him her virginity on prom night, no matter how much he’d paid for the limo. He’d gone off in a huff, leaving her without a ride home.
“Remember prom night?” Van murmured, as Tanner pulled onto a dirt road. The same one his Camaro had juddered along as they drove to the overlook together. Him in the black dinner suit he’d inherited from Logan, who’d inherited it from Gray. Van in one of her mom’s more demure dresses, that somehow looked anything but demure when Van put it on.
“Yeah, I remember.” Tanner nodded. “I hadn’t wanted to go at all.”
Van blinked. “So why did you?”
“Because Brad Wilshaw told me he was taking you. I wanted to be there to make sure he didn’t take advantage of you.”
“Yeah, well he tried.”
“It’s a good thing I went then,” Tanner said simply.
“What happened between you and Chrissie that night?” Van asked. “One minute you were dancing, the next she wasn’t talking to you anymore.”
“Nothing.” He pulled up next to a tree. The outlook was empty. From here you could see all of Hartson’s Creek, from the sparkling blue water that gave the town its name, to the vibrant green grass of the town square and the glinting white roof of the First Baptist Church.
“I thought you liked her.”
“Yeah, I kind of did. But it turned out, there was somebody I liked more.” His eyes met hers, and she felt her chest tighten.
“Is that why you didn’t get a ride home with her?”
“She offered me a ride. I asked if you could come, too. She told me to choose between her and you.” Tanner shrugged. “There was no competition. It was always you.”
Those words again. They warmed her and made her afraid at the same time. If it was always her, what had happened over the past ten years?
“It was sweet, the way you made me wait at the school so you could run home and get your car.”
“I didn’t want you to ruin those shoes you were wearing.” He winked at her. “They were hot.” He cleared his throat, a smile lifting his lips. “I also had an ulterior motive. I wanted to get you up here and I couldn’t do that without a car.”
The air was sparking between them. Despite the cold blast of the air conditioning, her body felt overheated as she remembered that night. Their second kiss. Less fumbling this time. More sure. They’d lain on the grass together, looking up at the stars sparkling in the dark sky. Then he’d touched her, until she saw stars behind her eyes, swallowing her cries with his warm, wanting mouth.
“Is that why you’ve brought us up here now?”
He grinned. “I really do want to talk to you about the drive-in,” he told her. “But I also don’t know if I can talk to you without kissing you, and I figure you don’t want Rich and his crew seeing that.”
The way he was looking at her made her stomach do a flip. Intense, dark, needy. “I don’t,” she said softly. “I hate it when people talk about me. About us. This thing that’s happening between us.” She gestured at the space between them. “I want it to stay between us. And I’m grateful that you’re thinking of my needs.”
“I know you,” he said, a half-smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “I know how you think. And though I want to go and shout about you to the world, I’ll take this at your pace.”
“Even if it means playing it cool in front of everybody else?”
“I hid my feelings for you for years,” he said, biting down a grin. “I can do it for a few more weeks.” He leaned forward to brush his lips against hers. “At least in public.”
She curled her hand around his neck, sighing softly as he deepened the kiss. “I just don’t want people judging me. They’ll say you gave me this job because I’m sleeping with you.”
“They’re not as judgmental as you think.” He brushed the hair from her face, his fingers lingering on her jaw. “You’re not your mom, Van.”